The Knight and The Griffon
by NachoMama37
Summary: Salem turns Ruby into a grimm to neutralize her silver eyes. Jaune sticks by her side trying to find a way to turn her back.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is another of my concept pieces. It'll likely be a three shot at most. I got an early shift at work so it'll be at least another week while I adjust and get back to my other stories. I blame Amity arena for this story.

It was frankly quite a ridiculous thing, the story that one Jaune Arc was hurriedly telling. Standing between a griffon grimm and his friends. Ren, Nora, Blake, Weiss, Yang, Oscar, Qrow and Maria all looking at him like he had lost his ever loving mind. He couldn't blame them, and honestly had he not witnessed the events himself, he knew he would be just as skeptical. Really he figured they'd just be glad that he was alive, but be that the case or not he was in quite the predicament.

"That's not funny." Yang growls at him, eyes red, hair fiery.

"It's not a joke." Jaune returns in panic and exasperation.

"You're telling us that Salem turned Ruby into that griffon, and you expect us to take your word for it when you've been missing for a year?" Nora sounds utterly incredulous.

"Yea, I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. If we could all please put away our weapons I'll explain." The knight pleads.

"What if it attacks us?" Weiss demands.

"IT is RUBY and if you haven't noticed, she hasn't moved an inch since we landed. She isn't going to attack anyone! She can't speak or express her emotions, but, I promise it's her in there." Jaune explains, sounding offended on Ruby's behalf. The griffon nods its head sharply in agreement.

Oscar had given control over to Oz and had been standing quietly examining the scene before him. He tucks his cane away an walks towards the griffon, headless of the protests of the rest of his traveling companions. The griffon lays down at his approach, seemingly trying to show it meant no harm. It was dusk, the low light of the fading sun had made it quite hard to examine the grimm properly from a distance. He was close enough now he could see it's eyes. He was on high alert, ready to run or fight if need be. "You have silver eyes." He muses, chuckling a bit at the approximation of a groan the creature manages. "Yes, I suppose I'm repeating myself."

"May I touch you?" He asks pacing around the creature taking note of what looked to be a red collar around her neck, her rose emblem where a name tag would be if she were a house pet. Ruby nods her head lowering it for him. Oz places his hand on her mask. She closes her eyes as gentle magic works its way across her. She opens her eyes after a while and turns her head side to side examining the young man. The rest of the group standing in silence. Jaune walks up to the younger man.

"What was that?" The knight asks cautiously.

"Just an old spell, it's a bit like sharing memories." He turns to the group a serious look on his face. "I'm sorry to say, but, that griffon really is young miss Rose." Seven shocked faces stare back at him.

Yang and Qrow walk towards Ruby cautiously. The three look at each other for a long time before Yang reaches out touching the feathered neck of her sister. "How?" She whispers. Ruby turns her head resting it on her sisters shoulder, hugging her as best she could manage.

"Salem, magic, and down right rotten luck." Jaune sighs, Ruby makes a low rumbling noise in agreement.

"We thought the two of you were dead." Qrow sighs out, still not quite believing his eyes or ears.

"We've been searching the world for magic. There are rumors all around about traces of magic, or strange occurrences that cant be explained by dust or semblances. I thought, we could find, I dunno, some way to change her back." Jaune explains.

"Why didn't you come find us sooner?" Blake eyes Jaune up, noticing for the first time that Crescent Rose is strapped to Jaune's back."

"It's a long story, if everyone would settle around the campfire I'd be happy to tell it." The blonde man begins walking towards the fire when he's stopped by a familiar tug at his hoodie. Ruby has the hood in her beak. He turns smiling a bit. "What's up Rubes?"

Weiss almost swears Ruby rolls her eyes at the knight. Ruby makes a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl. She drops his hood and nudges her weapon and stomps one front foot lightly. Jaune laughs again. "Yes, yes, maintenance day, I'll clean her up for you." He absently pats her neck before settling on one of the logs around the fire. Ruby paces the parameter of the campfire trying to find a place closest to her friends and family, but still far enough away from the fire. As a grimm having a natural aversion to flames was something she was quite unsettled by. She eventually settles a bit behind Jaune and Yang, both blondes sitting fairly close to each other.

Jaune sits with Crescent Rose on his lap beginning it's maintenance. "Two days before we were all set to raid the grimmlands I caught Ruby sneaking off on her own." He starts but I interrupted by Ruby flapping her wings and making a noise between a whine and a groan. "Hey, it's the truth and you know it!" He calls over his shoulder, Ruby huffs.

"You two seem to be able to communicate pretty well I see." Maria notes, blinking her goggles to focus.

Jaune shrugs. "We had to work out a system."

"You should have come back to us." Nora sounds sad, confused and just a bit angry.

"Ruby was afraid." Jaune answers simply.

"Considering the welcome we gave the two of you tonight, I can understand why." Weiss points out.

"I think it was more than that." Yang looks over to the lounging grimm by their camp. She knows it's her sister but it's still unnerving. Ruby sensing Yang's discomfort looks away from the blonde.

"She had to come to terms with the change herself, believe me, trying to drag a griffon anywhere she doesn't want to go.. yea it doesn't end well." If a griffon could look smug, Ruby would look quite smug.

Ruby and Jaune had managed to come face to face with Salem. They would have taken a moment to appreciate their stealth skills, but being face to face with the embodiment of hate tends to put a damper on celebrations. The fight had been short but intense. Jaune took to distracting Salem giving Ruby the time she needed to use her eyes. The blast of light knocking Salem back, heavily wounded, but healing already. Jaune an Ruby repeated the sequence several times before the grimm queen ha enough. Salem lifted her hand, shooting purple red magic towards Ruby. To Jaune's horror it connected, the sight of his best friend being transformed would haunt his nightmares for months to come.

Ruby seemed to take stock of the situation quickly. Salem was still down, she still had her silver eyes. She unleashed her power only to reel back in pain. Jaune was frozen in place in shock. Salem smirked deeming the two now harmless. The silver eyes no longer a threat Salem settles on her throne to regain her strength. Jaune runs towards Ruby, he can never explain just why or how, but he knew that she was still Ruby. Crescent Rose Is retrieved from the floor along with the rose emblem. Ruby bends down, one wing extended towards the ground. Jaune nods and hops on her back. Ruby learns that flying is instinctive for griffons, something she's thankful for, she takes them out of one of the smashed windows and flies for hours, finally settling near a little pond.

Jaune hops off and begins pacing and muttering to himself about what to do, who to call, and various other subjects. Ruby is lost in her reflection in the pond, it doesn't seem real at all to her. She opens and closes her mouth, watching as the reflection mirrors her actions, She flutters her wings, lifts a foot, and swishes her tail, The pond reflecting evert action she makes. It's wholly disquieting how natural all this feels. She's brought out of her own thoughts when Jaune exclaims they need to find the others. She walks over to him and tries to speak for the first time, she only manages to screech. She and Jaune both duck from the sound.

"We really need to get back to the others, maybe Oz will know what to do." Jaune tells her, he's surprised when she shakes her head no.

"No?" Jaune asks confused. Ruby whines, padding back over to the pond. She looks at her reflection and back to Jaune several times before it dawns on him what she's trying to convey. " You don't want them to see you like this?" He asks tentatively, she nods her head. The situation finally sinks in for her. Ruby paces back and forth obviously upset. Jaune walks over to her blocking her path to force her to look at him. "Hey, it'll be okay, I promise, on my word as an Arc we will find a way to change you back." Ruby sits allowing her head to droop down, making a sound so sad Jaune's heart was breaking for her. He ducks under her head wrapping her neck in a hug. "I promise." He states firmly.

The two travelled town to town searching for any leads on magic they could find. They always found dead ends but never gave up hope. They did hunters work where they could so Jaune had money for food or lodging when the weather was too rough for camping. One night Jaune sighed that he wished sometimes he had a ranged weapon, not that he didn't appreciate his sword, but it would come in handy when they were in the air. Ruby leapt to her feet trotting over to the tree where their weapons were leaning. She practically pranced back to him and gently laid Crescent Rose in his lap. "You want me to use this?" He asked carefully she nodded. "If you're sure I'd be glad to. I'm sure your baby is starving for some action." He laughs at the happy little dance she does with her front feet.

It takes a while but he gets the hang of using the sniper rifle part of Crescent Rose. Beowolves and Borbatusk are so much easier to deal with from the sky. Flying grimm are another issue all together. They work out a system where Ruby wears them down in the air and gets them close enough for his sword or her rifle to finish off. It's actually quite hard for Ruby to get the other grimm to engage in battle if he's not on her back, sometimes even when he is on her back they don't engage. Grimm don't seem to attack other grimm. He had never really put much thought into how grimm worked before. Ruby didn't seem to need food or water and she was impervious to most weather, cold being the exception. She was much slower in the winter.

She had been injured by a passing traveler once and the wound took nearly two weeks to heal. Grimm not having aura after all she didn't have that protection. He had attempted to use his semblance but it did nothing at all for her. They only walked for the two weeks as her wing healed. The two eventually found themselves on the outskirts of Mistral. Jaune had taken a job clearing a rather large den of beowolves for a local farmer. That's where the two had run into their friends. Jaune had to practically tackle Nora to keep her from bashing Ruby's head in. "That leads us to now." Jaune states finishing up the story, and maintenance on the sniper scythe.

"That's a lot to take in." Blake states, looking Ruby and Jaune over.

"Believe me, I know." Jaune laughs a bit.

"What do you think Oz?" Qrow asks the young man.

Oscar answers. "He's analyzing the magic, he's not sure if it's a simple spell or a curse right now. He say's he'll be busy figuring it out for a while."

"Well, now that we're all back together we aren't going anywhere, are we Ruby?" Jaune calls over his shoulder, she makes a small rolling noise that he seems to take as a vote of agreement from her. "She says she agrees."

A/N: This is prologue, next chapter will be the main story, third will be epilogue. This has probably been done to death, but meh, the muse insisted.


	2. Prologue 2:

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows so far folks!

Ruby paced the campsite serving as the night watch. She didn't need sleep after all, and it was something she could do to keep her mind relatively occupied. She stepped carefully and quietly not wanting to wake anyone, memories of the first few nights as a grimm and Jaune's reactions when she'd wake him up made her wish she could laugh. If.. no when she regained her human form she was going to have a blast telling those stories. She had always chosen to be optimistic, even in the worst of situations, she was doing her best to keep that up. A whiff of something on the air catches her attention. She raises her beak in the air inhaling deeply to confirm. She manages to keep herself from growling and instead she pads over to Jaune and nudges him until he stirs.

"What is it Rubes?" He yawns, waking easily, knowing she only wakes him for something important. She growls just loud enough for him to hear and his eyes widen. "What kind of trouble?" He whispers while wiggling out of his sleeping bag. A short almost chirping noise is his answer. "Bandits?" She nods "Fantastic." He groans. "How close?" She flutters her wings. "Okay, go wake everyone up." He whispers picking up his weapons. Ruby opens her mouth and closes it quickly letting it make an audible snapping sound. She stares at him expectantly for several seconds before understanding washes over his face. "Fair point." He relents. "Everyone up, bandits heading our way." He calls out not quite shouting. Ruby's mouth hangs open and her wings fall to the ground. Jaune knows the look, it's the look she gives him when she can't believe he's said or done something. "Don't give me that look, that was the most efficient way."

The campsite was in chaos for a few minutes with everyone being woken so suddenly. Jaune manages to explain the situation as the group gathered their weapons. "We'll scout ahead, pack up camp and be ready to move out quickly." Jaune calls out hopping onto Ruby's back without waiting on a reply.

"Stay high and inconspicuous." Jaune tells Ruby, it's unnecessary but she likes that he takes her safety into consideration when they are around other people. "There!" The knight calls out pointing to a very large group of bandits raiding a small village. Grimm of all sorts already swarming the settlement. "Crap, we can't just leave them. Hurry lets go get the others." Ruby caws in agreement turning around and flying at top speed to get back to the camp. The two hover above their friends heads. "There's a village under attack follow us!" He calls out, several sharp nods and both of their teams were following them to save the settlement. Their arrival seemingly enough to cause the bandits to flee, one yelling to his partner that he was told there were no hunters around these parts.

Jaune and Ruby briefly think about perusing them, but that would still leave the town to the grimm. Ruby chirped signaling her intent to go after the nevermore circling overhead. The sound of Jaune chambering a dust round was her answer. It never ceases to feel odd being largely ignored by grimm when he was in the air with her. The familiar sounds of their friends weapons below letting them know the ground was covered. "I missed this." Jaune muses aiming and firing at the nevermore. The round barely phasing it. Ruby rumbled in aggravation swooping down to the ground. "Always the hard way isn't it?" Jaune sighs Ruby groans in return. She lands and is startled by a scream next to her. Jaune looks over and finds a woman cowering with her child against a nearby building. " It's okay, this one's on our side." Jaune reassures them hopping off, he positions himself between the child and woman, using a barrel to rest the gun on. "Ruby, lets get to work." He calls out, she nods flying after the closest nevermore. "You're the grimm rider." The woman says with awe.

"The what now?" Jaune asks confused, his eyes not leaving the ever lightening sky. He doesn't have time to continue the conversation as Ruby lands on the back of a nevermore, she latches onto one of its wings with her beak biting down hard on the joint at its shoulder. The beast roars in pain and begins its fall to the ground. When it's within a few dozen feet of the ground Ruby lets go, she quickly flies upwards and then dive bombs it. When her back legs connect she kicks with everything she has making sure it crashes hard enough to be dazed. Jaune fires an ice round freezing the bird grimm before drawing his sword. He runs towards the bird grimm and jumps. The woman gasps as the griffon grabs him by the shoulders hauling him into the air. "Now" He commands and is dropped, he's just high enough to allow him to adjust his descent so his sword pierces cleanly through the nevermore. His feet hit just as it begins disappearing allowing a soft landing.

Ruby lands beside him chirps again looking as pleased as a grimm could look. She nudges Jaune's back as he scans the sky. "I'm really glad there was only one nevermore tonight." He whines rubbing his shoulder. Ruby makes a sound not unlike the cry of a hawk in agreement. Their friends, having cleared the settlement of ground type grimm run towards them shouting praise and concerns for them alike. Ruby wishes she could tell them how happy she was at that moment. The woman and her child take the chance to approach Jaune again.

"You really are him.. The grimm rider." The woman speaks in a hushed awed tone. Jaune turns to her quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh.. sure?" The blonde sounds uncertain, Ruby snorts in amusement.

"Wait, all this time, the stories we've heard and figured were half remembered delusions or drunken ramblings… That was you two?" Qrow pins them with a look. Jaune shrugs, honestly he couldn't care less what stories were spreading.

"How do you do it? I've heard it's your semblance?" The woman asks.

"Semblance, sure, why not." Jaune mutters to the woman she seems to accept the answer. Jaune and Ruby begin feeling more anxious as more townsfolk gathered to thank them. Ruby swishing her tail was a sure sign she was feeling all the negative emotions from the crowd. They didn't trust a. grimm idly sitting in their village, even if it appeared she was harmless. Jaune couldn't blame then and he knew Ruby felt the same way. It was instinctive, to fear the grimm, so he answers a few questions and soon the group leave the village.

Several days pass, Ozpin is strangely quiet in the back of Oscars consciousness. He's still working on figuring out the spell Salem cast on Ruby. He's only managed to rule out a curse so far, that and it's not a simple transformation spell like the one he performed on Qrow and Raven. The puzzle of the magic used on the tiny reaper was both a source of frustration and fascination for him. Oscar yawned and stretched poking at the campfire. Ruby was laying at the edges of camp, Jaune asleep at her side. Silver eyes staring at the moon. He couldn't help but wonder what the young woman trapped in the body of a grimm was thinking. The group were slowly picking up on the intricacies of communicating with her. She had quite a large range of vocalizations, combining them with her mannerisms and boy language was proving so far to be a learning process, but one they were all invested in

A/N: Go ahead and consider this prologue pt 2. I kinda decided this will grow as it wants to. Still adjusting to waking at 6am every morning, so, for now plan on like once a week updates. Miss muse has been fairly quiet this week, part of that is my bank account was hacked. Fun times folks, bills had been paid, and foo bought but ugh. Thieves suck!


	3. Chapter 3: Promises

A/N: What a week so far.

Jaune woke and frowned, both at the hour and at the memory of the dream he had been having. Sitting up he scans his surroundings. He sees his sleeping companions littering the ground around him. There's also one griffon padding lightly around the edges of the camp. He sighs in relief, this recurring nightmare he keeps having seeming so real and vivid he was momentarily sure he had actually seen it play out. The moon wasn't half done with it's journey across the sky but he wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight. He stretches silently, having remastered the art of such a feat after travelling alone with Ruby for a year it had taken time over the last few months to adjust to being in a group again.

He isn't quite ready to leave the warmth of his sleeping bag. It's late fall and the nights are turning colder. The falling temperatures cause a rise in his worry for his grimm partner. He watches a lone dark cloud pass in front of the moon. It had been a night very much like this one when he had made an unthinkable promise. The two of them had happened across a large settlement under attack by the grimm. The two of them joined in the efforts to fend off the nightmare beasts. There was just so much fear and negativity concentrated in the town that Ruby had momentarily lost herself to her grimm instincts. She had swooped in, dive bombing an alpha, tacking it seconds before it leapt on a young woman.

The woman screamed in fear causing Ruby to round on her, Ruby roared at the woman. She felt every muscle in her body tense in preparation to pounce on the easy prey in front of her. Jaune firing Crescent Rose at the alpha broke her out of whatever spell she was under. Jaune had seen the incident, it lasted maybe three seconds. It was the first indication he had that Ruby was having to actively fighting off her new grimm nature. Hours later the two of them sat on a cliff in silence watching a lone nevermore gliding in the sky. Ruby uncharacteristically quiet, her tail twitching back and forth like an agitated cat. He knew her well enough to guess what she was thinking as her eyes continued to watch the nevermore in the distance.

"You aren't like them." He states quietly and gently. She makes a low whining noise in response, she turns her head in the direction of the village they defended earlier. He sighs. "Things were crazy and people's emotions were running high, that's all." He reasons with her, she shakes her head. "Ruby, you're you, you're a huntress… you just happen to be stuck in the body of a grimm… we're all allowed bad days." She fixes him with her eyes, silver meeting blue, she stands turning to walk away stopping to place a paw on his shoulder. He understands she wants him to stay put. He watches the nevermore circle a few times before she returns. The confusion on his face apparent when she lays his sword on his lap.

"What do I need with this?" He questions noting the way she's returned her gaze to the grimm in the distance. She sighs, turning her gaze to him. She has his full attention as she looks between the avian monster, himself and the sword several times before to his horror he realizes what she's asking. The resulting argument between them would have been almost comical had it been any other subject. He protested, sputtered, yelled and finally gave in when Ruby made the same heartbreaking noise as the first day she had been turned. "Okay, you win." He sighed, flopping onto the ground. "I promise, if, and only IF you lose your humanity, and even then only if you're going to hurt someone … I'll …stop… you." He relents, her message had been clear to him, but there were some things he was unwilling to say. His final careful wording seemed to at least appease her for now.

That night had been over a year ago now, up until a few nights ago he had been able to keep that memory in the dark recesses of his mind. A few nights ago he had started having nightmares where he had to follow through on his promise. These were especially vivid nightmares, he could hear the roar of the griffon devoid of any of Ruby's unique vocalizations. He could feel Crocea Moors in his hands and smell the distinct burnt musky odor all grimm gave off as they evaporated into nothingness after being slain. Logically he knew why he was having these particular dreams. Days ago Ozpin had announced he had finally figured out the spell.. it wasn't good news.. he had ran over several possibilities but they all kept leading him to the same conclusion. The spell would only be broken at the victims demise. There had been yelling, questions, debate and Yang had understandably taken the news poorly.

The lamp was still in their possession, Yang had nearly called Jinn forth to demand answers. There had to be another way. Yang had fallen to her knees in tears as Ruby did her best to comfort her sister. The rest of the group were stunned into silence, this was not the news any of them wanted to hear. The knight had been working through scenarios in his head since then. His semblance, in theory, could rescue Ruby from the brink.. but only if… should the worst happened and she reverted back to human. He was truly terrified that if Ruby were to die as a grimm she would just vanish. The night they found out he had made Ruby promise to not do anything reckless. She had pressed her head to his chest as a way of acknowledging she promised. The events of the last few days weighed heavy on his mind, so he reasons that's why he's having the nightmares.

The young knight is so caught up in his train of thought he doesn't notice Ruby walk up to him. She uses his distraction to her advantage and shoves her face in his line of sight. To Jaune's credit he doesn't scream, that's only due to his voice failing him at the moment though. His startled gasp is enough to amuse her. Once he realizes that it's just Ruby he sighs he considers scolding her, the self satisfied way she fluttered her wings and tossed her head made him decide not to. The week hadn't been filled with the best of news, but if Ruby was up to pranking him she must be taking it fairly well. She rumbles at him. "Why are you awake?" He knows she's asking. "Couldn't sleep." He answers quietly. She turns her face to the sky. "Wanna fly?" He knows she's asking. "Always." He answers smiling, finally leaving the warmth of his sleeping bag.

The two circle the camp several times enjoying the night air. They soared for an hour before landing on a hill overlooking their sleeping friends. Jaune hops off and settles on the grass. Ruby likewise sits on her haunches resting in the clear night air. The two sit in silence watching the stars twinkle and listening to the soft rippling of the wind around them. "It was a night a lot like this wasn't it?" the blonde begins. Ruby quirks her head at him. "When I caught you trying to sneak off to attack Salem all on your own." He teases, she huffs ruffling her feathers in embarrassment. He laughs and is glad they are still able to joke, though if he's honest he really misses her smile and voice. Ruby nudges his shoulder picking up on his sadness. "There has to be another way." Jaune states firmly. Ruby makes a small curious noise.

He sighs laying on his back, focusing his attention on the moon again. "I promise Ruby, I promise, you will be human again." She nods at him and settles down next to him draping a wing over him. They had spent many nights like this over the last year. Her wings proving warmer than his sleeping bag. He drifts off to sleep remembering the night he caught her sneaking off. Two days, just two days travel to the grimmlands with any luck they would defeat Salem and prevent another great war. They had all grown in strength, focus, discipline and as one cohesive team. Ruby the default leader, Jaune her second in command.

They knew everything about everyone on their team. Where one member lacked in brute force or stealth another exceeded in the area. The thing that cemented them though was their unwavering trust and honesty with each other. Looking back Jaune thinks of the last few weeks before the planned raid as sort of a golden time for them. The possibility that some or even all of them may not make it out alive was weighing heavy on all of them. Ruby didn't even seem to be in her usual role, telling everyone that it would be okay and they'd come out the other side stronger. Qrow, maybe, feeling impending dread of the upcoming mission had finally sat down and told the tale of Summer Rose's last mission. It wasn't a surprise to learn Salem had been the one to end the huntresses life. The scope of how large her raiding party had been.. that was another thing all together. Qrow and Raven were the only survivors through pure dumb luck and their ability to turn into birds allowing their escape.

The camp had been quiet the rest of that evening, Ruby had first watch as luck would have it. The tiny reapers mind working in overdrive, she made up her mind, she was not going to lose any one else. She would have made it out of the camp unnoticed had a certain young knight's mind not been in overdrive as well. He had realized months ago that he had feelings for the silver eyed woman. Ruby was Ruby and he knew she wasn't ready for such things. She might be a hopeless romantic, but she had priorities…still learning of her mothers fate had put things in perspective for Jaune. There was no guarantee any of them would make it out alive…. Other than Oz of course, no matter the outcome Oz would live on to fight another day. Jaune waited for the camp to be calm and silent before wiggling out of his bag and heading to where he knew Ruby was watching camp.

His nerves were steeled, his courage built up, he lived through regret once he wasn't going through that again. Come what may he was going to tell her. She didn't have to return his feelings, she didn't even need to answer. He however needed to tell her. If he died without telling her he didn't want that following him to the grave. He was surprised to find her post unoccupied, a mild panic setting in when he caught a flash of movement in the dark. The movements were familiar to him, no cause for alarm after all. He called out to her halting her in mid step. Catching up to her, seeing her pack slung on her shoulder, hood up and the firm set of her jaw.. he knew.

They argued for such a long time, something in the way he demanded why finally broke her. He would never forget the way she had told him she wasn't strong enough to lose anyone else. He had sighed, defeated, he understood her reasoning well enough. He wouldn't stop her but he was coming to, and if she refused he would scream and wake the entire camp up. She agreed to his terms, he made a promise to himself to tell Ruby after they made it out alive. He would learn later that the note Ruby left lead the others to Salem, a few scraps of Ruby's cloak and half of his shoe that were left behind lead them to believe the duo had died in battle. The fuzzy feeling of sleep overtakes him and he drifts off dreaming of the past.

A/N: Well, I had no intention on making this shippy.. muse apparently had other ideas.


	4. Chapter 4: Hot Spring Hijinks

A/N: I have like two scenes for this chapter planned. The muse is in charge of the rest.

They had stumbled upon a natural hot spring several hours ago. The steamy hot waters a welcome reprieve from the ever plummeting temperatures. It was quite a lucky evening all in all, a convenient cave near the springs would provide shelter from a looming snowstorm and they had managed to snag a few rabbits and fish for their dinner. So, why was Jaune standing out in the bone chillingly cold air as the sun made its rapid descent below the horizon? It was just his luck that it was his turn to try and convince Ruby to leave the hot spring and join the group in the cave. He was equally annoyed and amused, knowing how hard the cold had been on her the previous winter, he understood her reluctance to abandon the warmth. Still, he didn't want to leave her to the elements all night.

"C'mon Ruby, its freezing out here!" He whines, not caring how unmanly he sounds. Ruby replies by sticking her beak in the water and blowing bubbles at him. She was submerged up to her neck in the lovely hot water and frankly she had been chilled to the bone for days. It was going to take nothing short of an act of the council to convince her to leave her new found sanctuary. "There's a cozy fire in the cave, lots of soft straw on the floor, and Maria promised to tell us all another story about her time as The Grimm Reaper." He tries to entice her, she responds by taking another step backwards into the spring. She could be so stubborn, but he found that endearing. The knight thinks for a few minutes before the obvious solution hits him. A wide smile crosses his face, picking up the change in his emotions Ruby turns her head to the side curiously.

"If you come out now, I'll do maintenance on Crescent Rose a day early?!" He bribes, she takes a few steps forward before stopping and taking as many steps back. He needs to sweeten the deal. "Okay fine, and I'll read the new issue of X-ray and Vav I picked up today to you." He smirks when Ruby finally emerges from the water. He would swear she smirked at him, nevermind that was impossible, he felt her smirk! He was on guard ready for one of her pranks, he realized a second too late what she had in mind. She waited until she was less than a foot away from him before shaking like a dog, soaking him in the process before practically prancing to the cave. Yang had witnessed the entire thing from the cave entrance and had dissolved into a laughing fit. Jaune groaned, he had just changed! Oh well, he decides, he'll just have to think of a way to repay her prank soon.

"Good one Rubes!" Yang cheers, chuckling at the soaking wet blonde trailing in her sisters shadow. Ruby tosses her head back towards Jaune and the rumbling coo she makes proves how proud of herself she is. "Don't encourage her!" Jaune pouts stalking to the back of the cave to change into dry clothes. It takes a bit of pacing and circling the cave before Ruby finds a suitably warm spot away from the fire. She settles crossing her front paws and yawns settling her head down watching her friends chat and already missing the hot spring. She lazily flips her tail side to side when a towel lands on her face. She squawks in surprise shaking the offending fabric off only to find Jaune grinning at her.

"Consider that payback, besides you know you smell like wet dog right now." Ruby makes a sound that conveys how offended she is. Jaune just rolls his eyes and sets to drying her feathers off. He takes care gently drying around her bony mask, somehow always feeling as if it was a fragile thing. The scene draws the attention of Weiss, she excuses herself from her conversation with Oscar and just stands watching them for a while. The ex-heiress turns her head in curiosity as Jaune stopped his drying, stilling at the spot where Ruby's wing met her body. His shoulders slumped and while it was apparent he was whispering something, she couldn't make out just what. Ruby cooed at him comfortingly, but Jaune's demeanor wasn't changing. Weiss raised an eyebrow as Ruby sighed and turned her head towards him. The scene was quite sweet as Ruby was seemingly trying to comfort the blonde, that is until she smacked him upside the head with her beak.

"Ow! What the heck was that for?" Jaune demanded of the silver eyed griffon rubbing his head. Her response was a simple fluttering of her wings. "See, I'm fine!" He could almost hear Ruby's voice reassuring him.

"What was that all about?" Weiss asks, a mix of curiosity and bemusement in her voice.

Jaune and Ruby turned their heads, having been oblivious to their audience. "Long story." Jaune sighs.

"I'd like to hear it." Weiss states, taking a few steps towards Jaune and Ruby.

The blonde had returned to his work drying Ruby as she began preening the feathers on her wing opposite of the side Jaune was working on. It was an instinct, and while Ruby knew it was a necessity it always made her feel less human. That was an exceedingly ridiculous emotion, considering everything, but still that's how she felt. Truthfully, she only gave in to the instinct if Jaune was fussing over her like now. She was fairly certain the knight had figured that fact out a long time ago. She found herself coaxed into lakes, streams and ponds quite often. She really appreciated his efforts for the most part. She had let her mind wander as she meticulously rearranged her drying feathers with her beak when a sudden wave of regret assaulted her senses.

She turned towards the emotion finding Jaune with his hand hovering over the spot where her wing met her body again. She idly wondered why he was so preoccupied with that old injury today. His eyes were closed as he recalled the events leading up to that day, purple black like the color of fresh blackberries tinting the edges of his normally golden aura. The emotion smoldering at the edges like paper slowly charring. Ruby was hoping one day to be able to explain the way the emotions looked to the grimm. The way fear, despair, sadness and anger each had their own attributes making them easily seen by the creatures. She's brought out of her thoughts as Jaune begins to speak. His back towards Weiss.

"We were on the outskirts of a little village. Having only just arrived we had no way of knowing they had been attacked earlier in the day. The grimm had taken a serious toll on them, they lost four hunters that day. We always try to be discreet with approaches and landings in populated areas, they were on high alert." He laughs bitterly. "There were half a dozen angry villagers surrounding us before I even managed to dismount. They had pitchforks, we had a literal mob of pitchfork wielding villagers on our hands. I tried reasoning with them, explaining that this griffon was under my control but, they wouldn't listen. I know it was because their emotions were running high, whose wouldn't be? It happened so fast, before I knew it Ruby and I were having to defend ourselves.

I somehow got tangled in one villager's semblance, another came running at me with their sword drawn I closed my eyes, praying Ruby could get away. I prepared for impact but instead heard Ruby roar in pain. She had gotten between the villager and I, things are a bit fuzzy from there. Ruby snapped the vines from the semblance, practically threw me on her back and ran until the villagers gave up on chasing us. It was a year ago today." He sighs.

Ruby coos at him in the comforting tone again, it doesn't do much to ease his guilt. The edges of his aura now a raging inferno of purple black flames. She considers smacking him upside the head again when Weiss steps up placing a hand on his arm. The inferno of his aura calms back to the smoldering. The action reminds her of the way she had tried to comfort him all those years ago when they stumbled on the dying huntsman.

"None of that was your fault." Weiss points out, Ruby noticing a strange ripple in the girls blue white aura.

"I know, she and I have been protecting each other this whole time. I've taken as many hits protecting her as she has me this last year. The thing is, grimm don't have aura, that, and they apparently heal slowly. I kept the wound clean and bandaged it was two weeks before it started to close and another week before she could fly. The blackberry flames returned to his aura already despite Weiss's hand still on his arm. Ruby did the only thing she could think of and whapped his head with her beak again. She fluttered her wing again to show she was fine and huffed at the knight who rubbed his head.

"Why do you keep doing that?" He half demands half whines.

"You're practically dripping negativity dummy!" Nora appears from nowhere smacking Jaune upside his head. Ruby nodding in approval at her redheaded friend. Nora couldn't help but feel the twinkle in Ruby's eye was her laughing along.

Jaune flails his arms in frustration. "Stop hitting me on the head!" He whines, again sounding decisively unmanly.

Weiss couldn't help it, the scene was too much! Tiny sputters giving way to laughter, Jaune's incredulous look not helping matters. "I'm sorry, I just missed this!"

Jaune sighed, his good nature allowing him to see the utter righteousness of the situation. He rubbed his sore head relaxing and chuckling a bit. "Sorry." He turns to Ruby. "I didn't mean to get all gloomy."

"I guess they just needed to knock some sense into you?!" Weiss declares feeling proud of her pun only to be booed by Yang. "Well, at least I'm still trying!" She pouts. The rest of the evening goes quickly and before long everyone is sleeping, leaving the lonely job of night watch to Ruby. There wasn't much to watch for honestly. The snowstorms kept both grimm and bandits at bay. She was even working to tend the fire, though nudging logs tenderly in the general direction of the fire pit was about as close as she could get. She was frustrated, during the day things were lively, her mind always occupied. The night was long and quiet, her thoughts completely revolving around her fate. There was likely no magic cure, a grimm she now was and a grimm she would die. Oz had said this was no simple spell after all. She sighed quietly, crossing her paws and laying her head on them. The calm, quiet of the falling snow and the gentle breathing of her sleeping friends her only companion tonight.

She was feeling sorry for herself. She was such a hypocrite smacking Jaune for the same thing earlier. This was her life, no longer a huntress but a visage of the very beasts she had sworn to protect humanity from. She flicked her tail side to side, not unlike an agitated house cat. She was so intent on her self pity that she didn't sense or hear Jaune walking up to her until he thumped her mask with his fist. The fact that she managed to not squawk in surprise was something she felt proud of, honestly. Her wide eyed surprised look was enough to make Jaune to laugh quietly. "Hypocrite." He says, clearly amused. Ruby rumbles quietly at him, head turned to the side. "I can read you like a book." He explains, pointing to her twitching tail. The tail is promptly curled around her body, "hiding" the evidence of her mood. "We'll find a way, I promise. An Arc never goes back on his word." Jaune's words ring of truth and conviction, but they still feel like he's promising something he can't deliver.

He talks quietly to her as the dawning sun reveals the snowstorm has passed. "Wanna spar? It's been ages and I'm feeling rusty." He asks, motioning towards his shield and sword, Ruby nods, standing as he retrieves his weapons. This was their favorite game, her swooping in from the sky, him dodging. She would swipe a paw or her barbed tail at him and he'd block with his shield or evade. They were having a blast, the clash of talons on his shield ringing through the quiet world sounding quite satisfying to them. They had been at it for a good hour when Weiss woke, the clammor of the spar sounding enough like a battle to get her adrenaline pumping. She had grabbed her rapier out of instinct or habit before stumbling to the cave entrance. The sight of a grimm barreling towards Jaune sending her mind reeling, she isn't fully awake and her body moves of its own accord.

Disaster strikes as Ruby, intending to fly by close and use her tail to flick snow on the blonde haired goof, feels herself crash to the ground she roars in pain, her right wing painfully and awkwardly frozen in a block of ice. Jaune turns around to see a concerned Weiss running towards him, rapier at the ready. "Weiss, why'd you do that ?" He demands, rushing over to the grimm. Weiss blinks in confusion before it sinks in. Her face drains of all color. "Oh, gods, Ruby! I'm so sorry.. I thought.." She runs over just as Ruby manages to stand. The whining noise she directs towards Weiss was heartbreaking. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was you, be still." Weiss asks summoning fire to melt the ice imprisoning Ruby's wing. It takes several long minutes before her wing is freed. A few flaps of her wings to check finds it sore, but not broken, flying will be out for a few days.

"I'm sorry Ruby, I wasn't fully awake and I.." Weiss begins, she is startled when Ruby nuzzles her hand, trying to show all is forgiven. "Thank you." The girl whimpers, wiping a tear away, Jaune's hand on her shoulder and his kind smile were a comfort. Ruby coos at them, there's no hard feelings after all. The event as easily forgiven as breathing. Ruby and Jaune had many conversations about this sort of scenario.

"Let's go get everyone up, we'll be a little slower with Ruby grounded after all, so we better get going asap. Oh, and I'll make sure we tell everyone ahead of time before sparring again. I'm sorry we scared you. " Jaune strides away with Ruby close behind. Weiss stands in place a few seconds longer, her hand on the spot where the young knights was. A fluttering of an emotion there and gone before she could process any of it. Ruby picked up on the fleeting feeling looking back in her partners direction. What was that, she wondered before shaking her head. She had become distracted by the hot spring again before she could process the strange and fleeting emotion her partner broadcast. Jaune noticed his feathered friend isn't trailing behind him, poking his head out of the cave he sees her heading towards the lovely hot water. "Ruby No!" he shouts, running after her. Weiss can nearly hear the "Ruby yes" returned as said griffon submerged her body in the soothing waters. Today she had gotten a reminder of how very different and how very much the same her partner had become.

A/N: Holy cats, Batman, sorry for the long wait between chapters! Another thing, the muse refused to concede some plot points, so yea..


End file.
